The Finance Committee met 03/24/2025. They spent the first half of the meeting discussing 2024-2025 budget carryover requests. The second half was taken up with 8 remaining action items all of which were unanimously recommended for approval by the committee.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
ITEM 25-0301 REQUEST TO AWARD UNIT C-25 SIDEWALK SAWCUTTING TO ASTI SAWING INC IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $30,000 – This item was approved unanimously with no discussion.
ITEM 25-0302 REQUEST TO AWARD UNIT J-25 MINI STORM SEWER TO M&E CONSTRUCTION LLC IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $250,000 – A mini storm sewer is a storm sewer is typically 6” in diameter and is typically installed with the intention of improving the drainage for properties that (a) do not have a drainage plan and (b) do not have a full-sized storm sewer in the front of their property. Since the 1980s, the city has required new developments to have drainage plans, so these mini sewers are typically installed in older areas.
The city installed a number of these per year as available funds allow. The amount budgeted for the project this year was $250,000 but the base bid had come in at only $159,100 which meant that, for the $250,000 contract, the city would be able to have more mini storm sewers installed than they had initially expected.
It is not considered a flood control program. The mini storm sewers are intended to help deal with persistent standing-water issues. Public Works Deputy Director Pete Neuberger mentioned that they get applications from residents with issues and end up with a waiting list every year. They are chipping away at that list and have been able to whittle it down quite a bit over the last decade. At this point, they are near the end of that list. He said that it was fairly common for them to do work at an address on the list and to have a neighbor find out about the program. [So, I guess if you have standing water issues in your neighborhood consider giving the Department of Public Works a call. It sounds like there might be some options available.]
ITEM 25-0303 REQUEST TO AWARD UNIT Y-25 LEAD/GALVANIZED WATER SERVICE REPLACEMENT TO SCOTT LAMERS CONSTRUCTION LLC IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $486,212.08 – All of the city’s residential lead service lines have been replaced. This contract would help pay to replace still existing galvanized water service lines. The city has a 5-year plan to replace the remaining galvanized lines and continues to chip away at them. They have been experiencing good compliance with residents on allowing them to go in and replace the lines.
The City has received $618,975 in funds from the Wisconsin DNR to cover the cost of replacing these lines. The bid came in at only $486,212.08 so, as with the mini storm sewer project, the city would have funds available to replace more lines or use the extra dollars to cover unexpected increased costs if a problem in the project were to arise.
ITEM 25-0304 REQUEST TO AWARD UNIT S-25 REPAIR & PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE OF PARKING STRUCTURES TO RESTORATION SYSTEMS INC IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,348,594.50 WITH A 3% CONTINGENCY OF $40,000 FOR A PROJECT TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED $1,388,594.50 – There was a $550,000 difference in the two bids the city had received. Alderperson Chris Croatt (District 14) wanted to know why that was.
Deputy Director Neuberger said that Restoration Systems Inc had don work for the city in the past and had done a good job. He felt that the bid from the other company was high and probably an indication that they already had enough work lined up and was not hungry for this job which was why their bid was high.
ITEM 25-0305 REQUEST TO APPROVE THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES SAFE DRINKING WATER LOAN PROGRAM LOAN WITH 100% PRINCIPAL FORGIVENESS IN THE AMOUNT OF $618,975 FOR REPLACEMENT OF PRIVATE LEAD SERVICE LINES IN APPLETON – This item was associated with the Y-25 galvanized water service replacement contract that was voted on earlier in the meeting. They had been awarded more money than was actually budgeted for the project. It was confirmed that they would not receive any of the funds until after they paid for the work and submitted reimbursement claims, so they would only be reimbursed for work that was performed.
It was also confirmed that the loan did not have any interest attached to it. [Because there is no interest and the loan has 100% principal forgiveness, the loan should not cost the city anything.]
ITEM 25-0306 REQUEST TO APPROVE CHANGE ORDER NO. 1 TO CONTRACT 29-25 FOR W-25 SEWER AND WATER CONSTRUCTION, IN THE AMOUNT OF $300,451, RESULTING IN NO CHANGE TO THE CURRENT $70,000 CONTINGENCY. OVERALL CONTRACT INCREASES FROM $2,312,222.22 TO $2,612,673.22 – Per the memo from city staff, “This request is for the relocation of water main and sanitary sewer along the north side of I-41 which is needed for the I-41 expansion project. DPW had originally planned to perform this relocation work in 2026. However, third party site redevelopment work also being driven by the I-41 project is planned to take place before then at 3001 E Enterprise Avenue. DPW desires to complete the utility relocation work before the site redevelopment work occurs at 3001 E Enterprise Ave, to help minimize costs.”
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) asked when the city would be reimbursed by the state for this work. Deputy Director Neuberger said that once the work was completed and the city had paid the contractor the city could submit a reimbursement request and would probably receive those funds around 60 days from their request.
ITEM 25-0307 REQUEST TO APPROVE CHANGE ORDER #1 TO FABICK POWER SYSTEMS AS PART OF THE APPLETON WATER TREATMENT FACILITY EMERGENCY GENERATOR CONTROL EQUIPMENT PROJECT TOTALLING $49,863 – This item was approved unanimously without discussion.
ITEM 25-0308 REQUEST TO AWARD TO APPLETON WASTEWATER TREATMENT HARDSCAPES AND TRUCK SCALE PROJECT CONTRACT TO VINTON CONSTRUCTION COMPANY IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,370,111.56 WITH A 15% CONTINGENCY OF $205,516 FOR A PROJECT TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED $1,575,627.56 – The city had allocated $950,000 to replace deteriorating pavement sections at the wastewater treatment plan. Additionally, there had been a postponed project to replace the existing truck scale. During the design planning phase of the pavement project it became apparent that they would need to replace the truck scale at the same time because if they did not do the two projects at the same time they would need to dig up the newly paved hardscape at a later date in order to install the truck scale.
The budget for the two projects was not increased. Rather the two projects which had been separated were combined along with their respective budgets.
Utilities Director Chris Stempa gave some brief background on the truck scale. They use it for the city’s biosolids land application programs in which they take dewatered sludge and compost it or apply it farmers’ fields. The sludge is sold by weight and the city brings in $300,000-$350,000 a year in revenue through it.
In order to weigh the sludge, the city currently uses a privately owned scale that is located nearby. It is getting to the point where the city will no longer be able to use that scale and using another scale would be unnecessarily expensive. It would be in the city’s best interest to install their own certified scale, and they need to install that scale before repaving the wastewater treatment plant.
A competitive number of contractors and sub-contractors checked out the project during the bidding process but when it came time to submit a bid only Vinton Construction submitted a bid. Alderperson Croatt asked why only one company had submitted a bid. Director of Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Dean Gazza responded that the only way they would know is if they called the contractors and asked them. He speculated that it could be because they got other work and no longer had time or the work the city was asking them to do was more than they had expected. Even though they only received one bid, they reviewed it with their consultants for the project and compared the unit price of relevant materials and felt that the bid price was fair.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1274645&GUID=584E2085-0611-4290-9C87-A6F47CD7C576
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